Tag: gangs

Somali Immigrants Linked to Extremism, Gangs, and Criminal Activity

ICE announced that during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, launched on December 1, 2025, federal agents arrested multiple criminal illegal aliens described by the Department of Homeland Security as “the worst of the worst.”

Those arrested included individuals convicted of child sexual offenses, domestic abuse, gang-related crimes, and other repeat offenses who had been living in the community despite prior criminal records. DHS attributed their continued presence to sanctuary policies and local leadership decisions, stating that ICE intervened to enforce federal law and address public safety concerns.

Several of those arrested were illegal aliens from Somalia. According to the ICE press release, Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi was identified as a former Gangster Disciples member and a current member of the Vice Lord Nation. His convictions include fraud, receiving stolen property, possession of a stolen vehicle, vehicle theft, and multiple probation violations.

Sahal Osman Shidane, also from Somalia, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor between the ages of 13 and 15. Mukthar Mohamed Ali, another Somali national, was convicted of assault, fraud, robbery, and larceny.

Ahmed Mohamed Said, an illegal alien from Somalia, has multiple convictions, including two domestic violence offenses, three convictions for driving under the influence, assault, property damage, and probation violations. Feisal Mohamed-Omar, also from Somalia, was charged with two counts of domestic violence.

In a separate case, a 19-year-old Minnesota gang member, Ibrahim Ahmed Mohamud, also known as “Ibbs” or “30,” pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of a machinegun. Mohamud is a member of the YSL (Young Slime Life) criminal street gang and was implicated in a February 24, 2024 drive-by shooting after mistaking the victim for a member of a rival gang affiliated with the Muddy group and the Somali Outlaws.

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US Marines Protecting American Embassy Exchange Gunfire with Suspected Gang Members in Haiti

According to reports, U.S. Marines tasked with protecting the American embassy in Haiti came under gunfire in the capital of Port-au-Prince last week by suspected gang members, firing back at the perpetrators.

On Sunday, in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital, Capt. Steven J. Keenan confirmed the incident and noted, “U.S. Marines are committed to the safety and security of U.S. embassies worldwide and respond to all threats with professionalism and swift, disciplined action.”

Per Fox News:

No service members were injured in the incident, which was first reported over the weekend by The Washington Post.

Neither the State Department nor the U.S. Embassy in Haiti immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The Caribbean nation has been plagued by gang violence, with armed groups reportedly controlling up to 90% of Port-au-Prince, according to the United Nations. The groups block access roads, attack infrastructure, and terrorize civilians through kidnappings, rapes and killings.

The gangs exert control through extortion and use heavy weaponry in their violent efforts.

While the United States continues to operate an embassy in Haiti, the State Department has issued numerous travel warnings because of the risk of kidnappings, crimes, terrorist activity, and civil unrest.

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Latin Kings gang issues ‘shoot on sight’ order against immigration officers in Chicago: CBP

he Latin Kings gang has reportedly issued a “shoot on sight” order to its members targeting federal immigration enforcement officers in Chicago, Ill.

The move comes as Washington escalates its enforcement efforts in the Windy City as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on crime in major cities and to implement mass deportations.

“Officer/agents are reminded to maintain heightened situational awareness and exercise extreme caution when conducting enforcement activities,” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) warned its personnel, according to NewsNation.

The Latin Kings are a decades-old criminal gang with its origins in 1950’s Chicago.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, and CBP have faced increased violence against their personnel under the Trump administration as part of the crackdown.

Trump has aimed to deport as many as 21 million illegal aliens and the administration has thus far reported at least 2 million removed through a combination of self-deportations and involuntary repatriation.

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Felon Who Was Granted Clemency by Biden Admin Hit with New Federal Charges After Violent Incident

An alleged Omaha, Nebraska, gang member who was given a get-out-of-jail card by former President Joe Biden has been arrested after less than five months of freedom.

On Jan. 17, Biden commuted Khyre Holbert’s 20-year sentence to 100 months, according to a federal list of the pardons and commutations.

Holbert is now facing a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with an Oct. 4 shooting in Omaha that injured a 28-year-old man, according to WOWT-TV.

Holbert also faces local charges of first-degree assault, using a firearm to commit a felony, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

A criminal complaint alleged that Holbert tried to get rid of the gun, upon which his fingerprints were found.

Holbert had a substantial record even before his 2018 sentencing on charges that included being a felon in possession of a firearm and distributing crack cocaine, according to National Review.

He was charged in 2010 with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing an unregistered firearm. At the time, he was a minor and was sentenced for one year.

In 2012, Holbert was convicted of a felony for having a gun and was sentenced for three years.

Officials said he is a member of a violent gang in Omaha.

According to the Justice Department, “the gun used in the Omaha shooting was found to have been discharged in two other separate criminal incidents that occurred in Omaha, including a homicide that occurred on June 22, 2025, and a felony assault in which several unknown assailants shot at a man in his vehicle on June 23, 2025.”

Holbert had been released from federal prison in May and began three years of probation on May 30.

A Justice Department statement noted that at the time Biden commuted Holbert’s sentence, “the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska objected to the grant of clemency due to Holbert’s gang affiliation and significant criminal history, along with the nature of his criminal convictions in that case, which included possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.  Clemency was ordered over that objection,” according to KSID-TV.

“Khyre Holbert should never have been prematurely released from federal prison and been free to participate in this violence,” United States Attorney for the District of Nebraska Lesley Woods said.

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Multiple Law Enforcement Organizations Launch Large-Scale Operation Targeting Drugs In Philly

In a big victory for Philadelphia—specifically Kensington residents—24 suspected members of the Weymouth Street Drug Trafficking Organization were arrested on Friday, resulting in the Justice Department announcing 33 indictments.

In addition to the 24 arrests, eight defendants were already in custody, and one remains at-large. The arrests were synchronized to simultaneously target suspected gang members and their affiliates in Puerto Rico, Delaware, and New Jersey.

Weymouth Street has long been known to harbor significant trafficking of Kensington’s open-air drug market—especially fentanyl, heroine, and cocaine which are the focus of many of the suspects’ charges.

Firearms violations will likely follow as the investigation continues—demonstrated in wretched images obtained by the DOJ depicting suspects brandishing weapons.

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Alleged Chicago Gang Member Charged for Putting Bounty on Border Patrol Chief

Federal authorities have charged an alleged Chicago gang member with plotting to kill a senior immigration enforcement officer spearheading a large-scale operation in the city.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, an alleged member of the Latin Kings gang, faces charges of soliciting fellow gang members and others to gather intelligence on the officer and offering $10,000 for his murder.

According to court documents unsealed the same day, the target of the alleged plot was Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol. Bovino has been leading federal enforcement operations in Chicago since mid-September, after previously overseeing a similar mission in Los Angeles as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to combat crimes committed by illegal immigrants in some of the nation’s largest cities.

Investigators said Espinoza Martinez used Snapchat to circulate a photo of Bovino, offering $2,000 for information leading to his capture. He later appeared to raise the offer to “10k if you take him down.”

DHS said it learned of these messages after receiving a screenshot from a source on Oct. 3. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) identified Espinoza Martinez as the account holder and arrested him on Oct. 6 in Burr Ridge, a suburb 20 miles southwest of Chicago.

DHS said Martinez is from Mexico and entered the United States illegally at an unknown time.

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Federal Agents Arrest Chicago Gang Leader for Allegedly Ordering $10,000 “Murder-for-Hire” Plot on Border Patrol Officer

A high-ranking Latin Kings gang member in Chicago has been charged in a federal murder-for-hire plot targeting a U.S. Border Patrol senior officer leading “Operation Midway Blitz,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Federal prosecutors allege that Juan Espinoza Martinez, a known Latin Kings leader known by his street name “Monkey”, offered a $10,000 reward for the murder of a senior Border Patrol official and an additional $2,000 for information on his whereabout.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem revealed on “Fox & Friends” that specific law enforcement officers have bounties on them put out by cartel members, terrorist organizations, and gangs.

“Intelligence indicates that these people are organized. They are getting more and more people on their team as far as attacking officers and they are making plans to ambush them and to kill them,” Noem said.

“We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them. They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented,” Noem warned.

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Oklahoma Overrun With Chinese-Operated Marijuana Farms

Chinese gangs are taking advantage of loose marijuana rules in Oklahoma to grow and transport marijuana to other states for sale on the black market, authorities say.

Oklahoma narcotics officials told Congress $153 billion worth of marijuana is unaccounted for and likely leaving the state for the black market in other states.

As many as 85 percent of licensed grow sites have connections with Chinese owners or operators, according to Mark Woodward, information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Since 2022, the state has shut down more than 6,000 illegal growing operations. Most U.S. states have made marijuana legally available, but taxes and regulations have pushed up its price, leaving an opening for black market sales.

Donnie Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said at a press conference in March 2025 that his department was conducting raids on illegal marijuana operations every day.

Here’s what we know about the ongoing crisis.

Black Market Operations Flourish

Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, licensing its cultivation and sale within the state. The state then reported an explosive growth of growers as the law established no cap on the number of farms that could be licensed to grow marijuana and no limit on how many marijuana plants each farm could cultivate.

The majority of these sites are run by Chinese nationals, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

By the end of 2022, Oklahoma had 8,400 farms licensed for growing marijuana. The state stopped issuing new licenses in 2022. As of mid-2025, there are under 2,000 licensed farms, which is still more than enough to meet the needs of the 325,000 patients licensed to use marijuana for medical purposes.

As the state has increased the reporting required of the licensed growers, it has come to light that an enormous amount of marijuana is not accounted for.

Between March 2024 and March 2025, medical marijuana dispensaries sold 1.7 million pounds of marijuana in Oklahoma, according to Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. But farms licensed to grow marijuana reported growing 87 million plants of marijuana, with a typical yield of one pound per plant.

Anderson told Congress on Sept. 18, 2025, that the marijuana produced by 85 million plants is unaccounted for. That amount is worth around $153 billion, according to state estimates. It is unknown where all the unaccounted product went.

Locals Recruited as Straw Owners

The Oklahoma law, passed in 2018, prohibits marijuana grown in the state from being transported to other states.

Enforcing that law is a challenge. Oklahoma is at the intersection of North-South and East-West interstate highways. In addition, to obtain a license, growers must have two years of residency in the state. Anderson told Congress that some out-of-state operators paid local “straw owners” to fraudulently obtain an Oklahoma license.

These operations are growing marijuana in Oklahoma and transporting the drug to other states for sale. And in one case, one Oklahoma man was registered as owning 300 farms, said Anderson.

The vast majority of these grow sites have a Chinese connection. According to Woodward, currently there are 1,995 active farms in the state, and 85 percent are Chinese-operated or owned.

Several recent convictions of Chinese operators in Oklahoma show the connection between Oklahoma marijuana cultivation and East Coast Chinese criminal organizations.

One case from December 2024 involved Jeff Weng and Tong Lin, who were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Weng operated out of Brooklyn, New York, while Tong Lin oversaw the grow operation in Wetumka, Oklahoma. According to witness testimony, they transported more than 56,000 pounds of marijuana out of Oklahoma over seven months.

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“I’ve Never Experienced Crime Of This Magnitude Before”: 20-Year Veteran Austrian Police Spox

More than 30 victims of a Syrian youth gang, known as “505,” have been recorded n the cities of Graz and Vienna.

The suspects range in age from 17 to 20, with police reporting they dealt a “severe blow” to the group with mass arrests.

“I’ve never experienced a dimension (of crime) of this magnitude before, and I’ve been in this business for 20 years,” said police spokesman Fritz Grundnig.

The organized gang is accused of a long series of extremely violent assaults between November 2024 and June 2025, mostly in Graz. Styrian police have released details to the national media about the group, including their involvement in the narcotics trade.

“A total of over 20 crimes have been reported, with over 30 victims injured and assaulted by this gang,” said Grundnig.

“The men are suspected of having intentionally committed grievous bodily harm, aggravated assault, robberies, dangerous threats, and coercion in Graz since the end of 2024, with varying degrees of involvement, and of having joined forces in a criminal organization,” an additional press release reads. The investigation revealed that the “505” group used blunt and stabbing weapons. Among the victims were minors, according to media outlet Die Presse.

Despite the gang being focused in Graz, a number of arrests were made in Vienna as well.

Many victims faced extreme violence.

“For example, in June, the group stabbed another man at Griesplatz. He suffered a stab wound in the thigh,” Grundnig reported.

The police spokesperson also said that the gang is involved in the narcotics trade.

“During the house searches, which were of course carried out as part of this operation, a considerable quantity of drugs was found,” he stated.

The gang apparently named itself after another Arab clan gang, which participated in brutal clashes between Chechens, Turks, and Syrians, who gathered under the name 505 or 505/515, in Vienna in 2024.

Those clashes saw gun battles, multiple stabbings, and routine violence.

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Belgium to Deploy Military to Multicultural Capital Brussels to Combat Drug Gangs

Drug gang crime has become so out of control in Brussels that military forces will be deployed to the Belgian capital, the government announced this weekend.

The increasingly violent situation in Brussels, fueled in large part by drug gangs often of North African descent, such as the infamous multinational Morco Mafia, has spurred the government to take drastic action in the multicultural city, in which around four in ten residents are now foreign nationals.

Minister of the Interior Bernard Quintin told De Standaard: “We don’t want to lose domestic territory… The army must defend the integrity of the territory. Military personnel usually do this at our borders or far beyond. But the war against drug crime also falls under the protection of our territory.”

“Only the modalities still need to be worked out,” Quintin added. “Anyone who doesn’t see an emergency situation now has been living on a different planet for the past year.”

The Interior Minister said that he was inspired by a recent conversation with a local police officer, who told him that drug gangs are “not afraid of the blue anymore,” but they still fear the military uniforms of soldiers.

“By deploying the army, the state demonstrates its willingness to use all its power for the safety of its citizens,” he said, adding that soldiers will be deployed in mixed units with police.

Although Quintin denied that there are any “no-go zones in Belgium yet, he warned that “there are places where it is difficult and that we are in danger of losing.”

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